Dawn’s Father Was A Door Gunner in Vietnam
Dawn described her father a lot more in an interview that I saw about good parenting on YouTube. He was a door gunner on a Huey in the Pleiku region of Vietnam, and he did 2 or 3 tours. Coincidentally, I did a post about Pleiku last year, and included some rare photos. It’s a beautiful place.
When her dad left the service, he had the PTSDs really bad, and would disappear for months or years. He could not cope with basic civilian or family life. He had to keep moving and traveling, partying in order to deal with his trauma. It was a textbook Vietnam vet tragedy. The whole family suffered.
Whatever happened, dad was always their hero, even though he was not around much and rarely sent money. I think that most kids feel that way about their dad.
Excerpt from “The Other Hollywood” by Legs McNeil.
DAWN SCHILLER: After they arrested John, they drove me back to Louise’s house—the stripper—and I stayed there until I heard from my father. He called after he opened the paper and read, “John Holmes was arrested in Miami Beach.”
He called and asked, “Where are you?”
I told him where I was, and he came and picked me up and took me back to his place—he had a nice house in Pompano with a pool. My dad just cracked open a beer, and we sat down, and I told him my long, emotional story. He would just sit there and nod, and every once in a while he’d reach into his pocket and break a Quaalude in half, and just hand me one, and open me another beer.
When I was done with the story, I got the spins, and I’m like, “Dad, I have to puke.”
He says, “It’s all right, babe.” He walked me down the hall to the bathroom, and he held my hair while I just heaved my guts up.
It was like the nicest thing my dad ever did for me—holding my hair when I puked.
localarts, and 1 other are discussing. 
localarts 10:12 am on July 26, 2013 Permalink |
That explains a lot. Did Schillers dad know John Holmes was screwing his 15 yo daughter?
John 11:30 am on July 26, 2013 Permalink |
Yes. And when she needed cash to go to Thailand, she worked at an exotic gentlemen’s club. Her dad didn’t have enough to buy her a plane ticket. In The Other Hollywood, she did her audition dance at the club for the manager, and her dad was at the bar with a friend watching. I’m serious.
“I’ve got to audition.”
My dad’s like, “Okay.”
I was scared to death. I did three straight shots of whiskey and just bit
the bullet. I had this purple dress on—and that comes off—and I think a
G-string.
So I go up there and dance to “Start Me Up” and “Another One Bites
the Dust.”
As Shirley Q. Liquor would say, “dats jus nastyy”. Tom Lange STILL had to track her down, Lange was non too happy about casing a strip joint and hanging out in the parking lot for 12 hours to find Dawn. This book is awesome!….
“When I finished dancing, I put my clothes on and went and talked to the owner. He goes, “You can start tomorrow. . . .” I wanted to leave but my dad says, “Come here a minute. I’ve got to shake your hand. There’s no fucking way in hell I would ever take my clothes off in front of a bunch of people. You’ve got balls.” “
localarts 1:13 pm on July 26, 2013 Permalink |
Thats sick. Vietman likley destroyed her dad’s mind but there is still a rational side as a parent that should kick in at some point.
Jill C. Nelson 1:29 pm on July 26, 2013 Permalink |
“Tom Lange STILL had to track her down, Lange was non too happy about casing a strip joint and hanging out in the parking lot for 12 hours to find Dawn. This book is awesome!….”
Dawn neglected to mention any of this story in her own book, but as you’ve read, it’s out there. In her own book Dawn claimed she babysat for “Louise” the stripper — no mention of stripping herself. She also neglected to mention how she supported herself for the large part of seven years while in Thailand which is also detailed in Leg’s McNeil’s book by Dawn.
Tom Lange and Frank Tomlinson waited in the parking lot together and then Tomlinson went into the club to identify Dawn. He doesn’t drink alcohol so he ordered a soda at the bar. Once they were positive it was her, they followed her after she left the club.
John W 3:55 pm on July 26, 2013 Permalink |
Thanks Jill. I was hoping you would chime in and help with this. I was getting the same conflicts in my head since I read her book. I had read parts of Other Hollywood but now I have the book. Enlightening!
Jill C. Nelson 4:15 pm on July 26, 2013 Permalink |
Very. 🙂
John W 1:07 pm on July 27, 2013 Permalink |
And I knew Frank was there… From court tesimony. It’s great that he was there, at that moment. He and Det. Lange are old school gum shoes. I have your book Jill, but it’s size intimidates me… And I will read it soon… Have only looked at the photos. Its like 800 pages! LOL
Jill C. Nelson 11:26 am on July 28, 2013 Permalink |
Yes, it was very good Frank was there. (One of the reasons it’s important that Frank is mentioned with respect to the Florida arrest is because in her book, Dawn wrote that Tom Lange and Tom Blake were the arresting officers in Florida which wasn’t the case. Blake was a vice cop, not a homicide detective.) As you’ll read, Frank was very instrumental in tracking Holmes down in Florida. Tomlinson hadn’t been involved in the L.A. part of the Wonderland investigation, but received permission to hunt John down after the case got cold and he was no where to be found. He started making a few phone calls and got the ball rolling and was able to track him in Florida. Indeed, Lange and Tomlinson made a very effective team.
I’ll admit, “Inches” is a big book but it was tough to tell the Holmes story in anything less while allowing all of the participants to have a voice. 😉